Once you have a covering and stable ink, and have chosen the right film for your DTF projects, it’s time to create your own color profile.
Why?
To achieve optimal results in DTF printing, it’s crucial to create a custom printing profile for each combination of ink and film. This process ensures that color shades are accurately reproducible, which is especially important for complex color requirements from clients.
Why do we need individual profiles for ink and film?
Each combination of ink and film has its unique characteristics, such as saturation, transparency, and adhesion, which affect the final look of the print. Differences in texture and chemical composition between films, as well as specific properties of each ink (e.g., saturation and pigmentation), mean that the same profile is unusable for all combinations. Without the appropriate profile, shades may deviate from the desired values, leading to customer dissatisfaction and additional costs for reprinting.
The Process of Profile Preparation
Preparing a printing profile for DTF requires precise configuration and calibration of the printer for each ink and film combination. The process includes:
- Testing of Shades and Saturation: Each combination of ink and film is tested with different intensities to achieve the best color values.
- Temperature and Pressure Settings: During profile preparation, temperature, time, and transfer pressure are also adjusted, since these factors affect the final shade.
- Calibration of Optical Reading: Using a color spectrophotometer, we check the accuracy of color shades on each film, then adjust printing settings.
Advantages of Using Individual Profiles
By creating specific profiles for each combination of film and ink, we ensure that:
- Shades Meet Expectations: Desired color accuracy is achieved, which is essential for high-quality projects.
- Improved Printing Consistency: Profiled printing results are consistent, regardless of material or ink.
- Reduced Number of Reprints: By decreasing the need for reprinting due to incorrect shades, we save time and costs.
Conclusion
In DTF printing, preparing individual profiles for each ink and film combination is fundamental for achieving high-quality results. Accurate profiling allows control over all shades and ensures that the final print meets client expectations, while optimizing the efficiency of the entire printing process.